Research Report: Managing the Water-Energy-Food-Gender Nexus

Stephanie Buechler (Ag Sciences Global and Penn State Extension), Lina Tami Barrera (AESE PhD candidate), and Zoelie Rivera Ocasio (ESM PhD candidate), together with scholars and students from the National University of Colombia and the Javeriana University also in Colombia developed a research report with program and policy recommendations from the findings of their interdisciplinary, applied project entitled: ‘Managing the Water-Energy-Food-Gender Nexus: Between Subsistence and Sustainability on Isla Fuerte, Colombia.’

The research report highlights findings from an interdisciplinary project funded by the Colombia-USA WEF Nexus Alliance of Penn State and part of internationalizing extension efforts that Penn State is part of through a U.S. university network: Globalizing Extension Innovation Network (GEIN). The project focuses on the island of Isla Fuerte, Colombia, and its mainly Afro-Caribbean population and is aimed at understanding water, energy, and food nexus challenges in an island context impacted by global environmental change.

It includes an analysis of the roles of women in their kitchen gardens and in their small plots. Program and policy recommendations with special emphasis on women’s needs and sustainability initiatives are included in the report which is being disseminated to government officials in Colombia as input into their forthcoming Cartagena Region Development Plan 2024-2027. This research report is part of Ag Sciences Global’s GEARE initiative.

Managing the Water-Energy-Food-Gender Nexus: Between Subsistence and Sustainability on Isla Fuerte, Colombia